Trusted Stripe

Language:

The trusted stripe appears at the top of the screen.

Figure 4-3 Trusted Stripe on the Desktop

The purpose of the trusted stripe is to provide a visual confirmation that you are in a legitimate Trusted Extensions session. The stripe indicates when you are interacting with the trusted computing base (TCB). The stripe also displays the labels of your current workspace and current window. The trusted stripe cannot be moved or obscured by other windows or dialog boxes.

The trusted stripe has the following elements:

The trusted symbol – Displays when the screen focus is security-related
The window label – Displays the label of the active window when the screen focus is not security-related
A role marker – At the right of the trusted symbol, before the account name, displays a hat icon if the account is a role account
The current account name – At the right of the trusted symbol, displays the name of the owner of new processes in the workspace
Labeled windows – Displays the labels of all windows in the workspace

Trusted Symbol

Whenever you access any portion of the TCB, the trusted symbol appears at the left of the trusted stripe area.

The trusted symbol is not displayed when the mouse pointer is focused in a window or area of the screen that does not affect security. The trusted symbol cannot be forged. If you see the symbol, you can be sure that you are safely interacting with the TCB.

Caution - If the trusted stripe is missing from your workspace, contact the security administrator. The problem with your system could be serious.The trusted stripe must not appear during login or when you lock your screen. If the trusted stripe shows, contact the administrator immediately.

Window Label Indicator

The Window Label indicator displays the label of the active window. In a multilevel session, the indicator can help identify windows with different labels in the same workspace. The indicator can also show that you are interacting with the TCB. For example, when you change your password, the Trusted Path indicator displays in the trusted stripe.